December 2012 Number 1 - Utah Native Plant Society

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Figure 3. Work crew felling Russian olive trees at Blue Hole Ciénega (September 2007). Utah Native Plant Society wide by October when a work crew spent another 1,000 man-hours treating the resprouts with herbicide. After almost three years of weed tree control, controlled fire, and expenditure of $80,000, Blue Hole Ciénega might be restored to a point where a small crew can annually destroy new weed tree seedlings within a few days. The Albuquerque Chapter of the Native Plant Society of New Mexico has volunteered to annually inspect the ciénega for other weed species that could arrive and become established, if not quickly detected. Accumulations of dead, thatchy, native vegetation will still have to be managed. Since high densities of Pecos sunflower are desirable at this preserve, intensive livestock grazing during the growing season is not an option. Therefore, controlled fires at suitable frequency (yet to be determined) will be needed for the foreseeable future. Most southwestern ciénegas are in private ownership because the spring features associated with them are valuable assets in an arid region. Restoration, protection and management of these rare and unique habitats are costly and require perpetual effort. Government programs that acquire ciénegas or assist landowners with their management are greatly needed in the southwestern states. When the slash had dried for three to five months, the entire ciénega was burned in December. Winter is the only feasible burn period because Pecos sunflowers set seed and die in October and the seeds begin to germinate in late February. The burn and mop-up took two days and was conducted by three State Forestry wildland fire crews, one USDA-Forest Service wildland fire crew and a pumper crew from the Santa Rosa Municipal Fire Department. The fire carried very well through the thick fine fuel of the grass and rush cover, but was generally not hot enough to consume tree slash more than one-inch in diameter. The bare, open ground of the burned ciénega created optimum habitat for germination and growth of annual ciénega plants such as Pecos sunflower and seepweed (Suaeda calceoliformis (Hooker) Moquin-Tandon) (Figures 5 and 6). Perennial ciénega plants quickly developed a lush growth that covered the charred one- to twelve-inch diameter tree slash lying on the ground. Most of the Wright’s marsh thistle rosettes that had been burned made new rosettes and many bolted flower stalks the following autumn. Unfortunately, about 20% of the weed tree stumps resprouted, and the still living roots around each dead stump sprouted one or more new weed tree saplings. These were three to four feet tall and Figure 4. Controlled burn of Blue Hole Ciénega (December 2007). 22
Calochortiana December 2012 Number 1 Figure 5. Photo reference point at Blue Hole Ciénega before treatment (August 2006). Figure 6. Photo reference point at Blue Hole Ciénega after treatment (September 2008). 23
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December 2012 Number 1 - Utah Native Plant Society

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